All buildings need to go green by 2020

New Delhi, Jun 28, 2012, DHNS :

All buildings which are supposed to be built by 2020 need guidance in terms of construction methods and obtain environment clearances to ensure that they do not make living conditions difficult, warned Centre for Science and Energy at a briefing in Delhi on Thursday.

The briefing on building green structures focused on the environmental challenges and solutions for the building construction sector.

CSE researchers highlighted that in India, buildings are responsible for 40 per cent of the energy use, 30 per cent of the raw material use, 20 per cent of water use and 20 per cent of land use in cities.

At the same time, existing buildings cause 40 per cent of the carbon emissions, 30 per cent of solid waste generation and 20 per cent of water effluents.

Experts pointed out that with more efficient lighting, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and architectural design; it is possible to save 30-70 per cent of energy. The 2010 McKinsey estimates confirms that the national power demand can be reduced by 25 per cent in 2030 by improving energy efficiency of buildings and operations.

Ajay Mathur, director general of Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Delhi pointed out that even existing buildings have the potential to save 30-50 per cent of energy.

“Delhi’s power demand is making new records every day. More than 40 per cent increase in demand is because of air conditions. We need to design new buildings in energy efficient ways,” said Mathur.

Monitoring

Experts said the main issue is related to lack of information as there is barely any information and data on buildings in the public domain.

“Even in cases where green rating systems have been promoted with government back-up and incentives, there is no record of the actual performance of buildings and the nature of resource efficiency measures applied,” said Sakshi C Dasgupta, deputy programme manager of the sustainable building programme, CSE.

Experts added Noida and several other cities are allowing extra built-up areas and tax concessions to incentivise green rating of buildings which are not linked with actual performance of the buildings.

Use common sense

Navin Raheja, managing director of Raheja Developers said: “We must encourage water recycling, waste management and other such techniques to do our bit to save environment.”

Paritosh Tyagi, former chairperson of Central Pollution Control Board said: “Municipalities need to form building codes at the state-level. Also, there are hardly any provisions for cyclists and pedestrians.”